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What DVD / Video did you watch last night? (pt3)

2 Days in Paris - Julie Delpy's comedy about a photographer and her American boyfriend spending a weekend in Paris with her parents. It's not.a masterpiece but it is a good relaxing, enjoyable, occasionally silly and quite well observed film. Does not go on longer than it needs and is well put together.

Cecil B Demented - John Waters comedy about filmmaking, a bit of a favourite of mine and an enjoyable rewatch.

Princess Cyd - Very nice family/coming of age comedy/drama. A young woman comes to stay with her aunt for a couple of weeks, there's a clash of cultures but it's done (very well) in a low key realistic way, no fireworks more just tensions. Really good performances, well written, shot well and a good story told well. I'd not heard of it but it came up on MUBI and pleased that it did.
 
One in A Thousand - Argentinian film, dealing with a young woman, Iris, living in a deprived area with her family. She develops and attraction for, and relationship with, another woman, Renata, but is conflicted about the rumours about Renata - is she HIV positive? is she a sex worker? Debut feature of the director and it kind of shows, while it is a very promising debut, well shot, mostly good characterisation it has some of the classic flaws of debut features. The director obviously understands all the background characterisation and plot moves, but at times this is not communicated clearly enough to the viewer (I'm not sure if MUBI's subtitling is not partly to blame here, I don't speak Spanish so cannot say how good it is but there have been times in the past where I've seen some not great subtitling). Also while the characterisation is generally good, the film does spend too long ambling along, a stronger focus on plot and moving the narrative forward is a flaw. Even so credit to the director for a good ambitious first work.

Sunchaser - I love Heaven's Gate, in my view it is great, and while I'm a lot more critical of The Deerhunter it is obviously a significant movie. So I was looking forward to this one of Michael Cimino's last films. Sadly it is rather a disappointment, a rather cliched round movie with a doctor being kidnapped (at least initially) by a terminally ill juvenile convict. All the usual plot points are there - initial tension between the two, growing understanding, revelations. I guess after Heaven's Gate the studio kept Cimino on a much higher lease but you really feel this movie could have been made by any number of directors working in Hollywood. There is nothing like the imagination, silliness and joy of the roller skating scene of HG. It's not terrible but I would not bother with it unless you really cannot find anything on. (Oh and the sort of mystic wisdom of Native American's is the worst sort of 90s new age crap).

The Judge and the The Assassin - The excellent Bertrand Tavernier uses a period film about a serial killer to look at the actions of the state and justice. Absolutely top notch. Tavernier makes us feel more sympathy for the murderous, though obviously mentally ill, killer Bouvier than the guardians of law and order, especially the eponymous judge. It has Tavernier's themes and politics embedded in it (an excellent thing) but never in such a way as they become didactic or detract from the plot/characterisation. Very, very well recommended.

Hannah and her Sisters - Despite it's reputation as (one of) Allen's greatest I've never seen this. It's hard not to think about Allen's relationship with Farrow when watching it and the sort of autobiographical (or should that be autobiopictorial?) nods in the film. But that does not detract from the movie, it has many of the usual Allen concerns but they are far better developed than of recent. I'm not a particular Michael Caine fan but gives one of his best performances here, and Max von Sydow is very funny in a minor role. It has not displaced Crimes and Misdemeanours as my personal #1 Allen film but it is an excellent piece of work.
 
redsquirrel said:
Cecil B Demented - John Waters comedy about filmmaking, a bit of a favourite of mine and an enjoyable rewatch.
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Despite being a pretty big JW fan, I only watched Serial Mom for the first time the other day, which was excellent. Will have to track down a copy of the above too.
 
Orang Utan said:
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Harrowing and almost unwatchable (but at the same time utterly compelling) film about a Bosnian Muslim teacher working in Sbrenica as a go-between for the UN negotiating with Serbian General Mladic, whilst trying to save her husband and sons from being taken away by Mladic’s goons. It’s no spoiler to say that it doesn’t end well as it’s documented history and Is struggle to describe the film as an entertainment. I am ashamed to say I knew very little about the massacre as in 1995 I was only interested in partying was only dimly aware of it at the time.
I say it’s a hard watch but most of the violence is off screen - there is no gore or fetishised war violence. We are under no illusions about what is happening though and the tension and inevitability of it all made me feel sick to the stomach. It should have won the Oscar for best ‘foreign’ film, but lost out a comedy about teachers getting pissed (Another around)
The best film about the mundane obscenity of war and genocide since Come and See and as equally nightmarish. 5/5
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I watched this last night, and my thoughts are as yours. Highly recommended, but utterly depressing.
 
Supine said:
Leftovers Series 2 - half way through and running out of 'what the fucks'. Seriously weired TV in a good way.
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Yet another HBO series I hadn’t even heard about, and noticed only recently through NowTV. Nearly finished S1 and rather enjoying it.
 
Currently working my way through my Auf Wiedersehen Pet boxset of series 1 and 2. Last night's episode was "The Alien" where Magowan comes to stay in the hut, causes trouble and ends up nicking their dartboard.
 
LeytonCatLady said:
Currently working my way through my Auf Wiedersehen Pet boxset of series 1 and 2. Last night's episode was "The Alien" where Magowan comes to stay in the hut, causes trouble and ends up nicking their dartboard.
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Last night's episode was "Last Rites". Oz has a secret porn export business on the side, and when a friend of the Geordie lads dies, tries to smuggle the videos to the UK in his coffin. Which literally backfires when he's cremated!
 
LeytonCatLady said:
Currently working my way through my Auf Wiedersehen Pet boxset of series 1 and 2. Last night's episode was "The Alien" where Magowan comes to stay in the hut, causes trouble and ends up nicking their dartboard.
Click to expand...
www.urban75.net

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet

Been watching these again - it is such a great series, funny and sad and dramatic. With a great variety of well rounded characters, and Bomber. Barry, Oz and Wayne being the outstanding ones The later series were pretty bad though, but the first two in Germany, Spain and England were superb...
www.urban75.net www.urban75.net
 
Ghost World (2001). Not watched it since it came out, so I didn't remember anything of the plot, but it feels very much like a predecessor of movies like Juno and the Jared and Jerusha Hess universe. Ordered the comic book off eBay because I can't remember reading that either, and now I'm curious how much the movie reinvented.
 
Three rather good pieces of entertainment. Needed relaxing after dealing with management shits this week.

Manhatten Murder Mystery - Still one of my favourite Allen's and certainly better than anything he's ever done since. Just a great very fun, daft murder mystery with a marries couple. It helps that it has some extremely likeable actors in the main roles (Keaton, Alda and I'm a fan of Allen himself) plus I like the movies it is a homage to.

Isn't it Shocking - Rather good TV movie with Alan Alda as a local police chief investigating a series of murders in a small town. In is in a similar style to the excellent They Only Kill Their Masters although it is not as high quality as that.

The Stick-Up - James Spader is a cop and/or bank robber, who's one night stand ex-husband, former cop buddies and the rookie FBI agent are all on his trail. Just came across this and surprised that it is not better know. It's clever, fun, well made, well acted and with good chemistry between the leads. It's no Hiroshim Mon Amour but it is well worth checking out.
 
Casino.

I saw it when it came out and thought it was just Goodfellas lite, which it is, but have been watching it again this week, and it's great fun.

A bunch of mobsters control a Las Vegas Casino, with Robert de Niro as the brilliant manager. Sharon Stone plays his wife, who is still stuck to her ex-pimp. It's all going well until the top guys send Joe Pesco to watch over de Niro.

Pesci does what he does best and between them, the ruin their lives and the racket.

The filmed it in a real Casino, sometimes when it was open, and the noise, flash, sets, performances, music and stunts are dazzling.

They pay House of the Rising Sun as it all gets out of control. :D
 
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First two episodes of Netflix's new Masters of the Universe: Revelation, which I hadn't really been looking forward to despite spending £100s a month on toys

Oooooooookay... :hmm:
 
I was thinking about Manhattan Murder Mystery and how to put together a really good season of married couples comic mysteries.

Obviously you could have a number of the Thin Man films but lets just limit ourselves to one, then I have

The Thin Man - The absolute classic, William Powell and Myra Loy great with gags verbal and visual coming at 100 miles an hour
The Ex-Mrs Bradford - Does not have Myra Loy but does have the wonderful Jean Arthur, definitely makes the cut
Manhattan Murder Mystery - More modern homage to the genre. Allen, Keaton and Alda some

People got any other suggestions? Sue? Reno?
Plenty of Hitchcock's have couples (though usually not married) and comic elements but there's too much of a edge to most of them - I suppose Young and Innocent or The Lady Vanishes might be able to squeeze in there if needed. Any non-english language alternatives? It seems pretty Anglo, even American, at the moment. I'd like to get up to 6 if possible.
 
redsquirrel said:
I was thinking about Manhattan Murder Mystery and how to put together a really good season of married couples comic mysteries.

Obviously you could have a number of the Thin Man films but lets just limit ourselves to one, then I have

The Thin Man - The absolute classic, William Powell and Myra Loy great with gags verbal and visual coming at 100 miles an hour
The Ex-Mrs Bradford - Does not have Myra Loy but does have the wonderful Jean Arthur, definitely makes the cut
Manhattan Murder Mystery - More modern homage to the genre. Allen, Keaton and Alda some

People got any other suggestions? Sue? Reno?
Plenty of Hitchcock's have couples (though usually not married) and comic elements but there's too much of a edge to most of them - I suppose Young and Innocent or The Lady Vanishes might be able to squeeze in there if needed. Any non-english language alternatives? It seems pretty Anglo, even American, at the moment. I'd like to get up to 6 if possible.
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The Thin Man is very rare in that it centres on a married couple and any film about a married couple solving crimes tends to by a homage to it. Here some romantic thrillers centring on couples:

In the 60s the success of Charade, starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn sparked a series of "Hitchcock light" romantic thrillers, pairing movie stars: Arabesque (Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren), Blindfold (Rock Hudson, Claudia Cardinale) and Mirage (Gregory Peck, Diane Baker) come to mind.

I remember enjoying Foul Play (1977) with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase, another comedic, Hitchcock inspired thriller which benefits from a screenplay by Colin Higgins (Harold and Maude, 9 to 5)

Deep Red (1975) by Dario Argento is probably the greatest giallo ever made but the director's cut at least manages to weave a screwball comedy into its plot. Daria Nicolodi's feminist journalist, who pairs up with David Hemmings to solve a murder mystery, is a throwback to Rosalind Russell and the likes. Some prefer the shorter international cut because it condensed the film down to it's horror thriller elements, but the longer Italian cut is far more interesting (and ahead of its time) in terms of sexual politics.

One of my favourite romantic thrillers ever is Read My Lips (2001) by Jacques Audiard. The gloriously dysfunctional Vincent Cassel and Emanuelle Devos are one of my all time favourite movie couples, though they pair up to commit, rather than to solve a crime.
 
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Woodstock `99, good HBO documentary on the infamous Woodstock revival. Somehow the love & peace vibes aren't there when you court the audience for Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock (and charge punters $4 for water during a heatwave) rather than that for Joan Baez and Santana, though the documentary makes the point that the original Woodstock wasn't quite the love-in it has been made out to be either.

The Bloodhound, a contemporary take on Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. Stylish and initially intriguing thanks to its two lead actors, but even at 71 minutes it isn't able to sustain itself and ends up a bit of a snooze.
 
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LeytonCatLady said:
Last night's episode was "Last Rites". Oz has a secret porn export business on the side, and when a friend of the Geordie lads dies, tries to smuggle the videos to the UK in his coffin. Which literally backfires when he's cremated!
Click to expand...
"The Lovers", where Oz falls in love with a German woman and tries to impress her by telling her he's heir to his fictitious rich dad's business, only to end up having her boyfriend chase him with a knife.
 
Barb and Star go to Vista del Mar. A very silly comedy, but if you like that sub genre, it is actually surprisingly enjoyable and entertaining. Kristen Wiig writes, produces and stars in it, and all the other main characters are as amusing. In particular Jamie Dornan, who clearly had a lot of fun making this. You’ll know what I’m saying if you watch it :D

While not every absurd gag that’s typical of the genre lands in, overall it gets away with them quite deftly, and the overall product is pretty satisfying and it made me smile and quite often laugh throughout. A perfect Sunday afternoon film.
 
Orang Utan said:
Colectiv
Rigorous, compelling and enraging fly-on-the-wall doc on the aftermath of the Bucharest nightclub fire that killed 64 young people in 2015. It focuses on a newspaper's investigation into the corrupt and broken Romanian health system that killed more of the victims than the fire did, while also following a newly appointed young health minister trying valiantly to face down the behometh of mass state kleptocracy. It's an inevitably grim watch but it is enlivened slightly by its third strand that shows how one young survivor manages to rise above her trauma through art. 4 kleptocrats out of 5
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I watched that yesterday, gripping and utterly depressing. Reading up on it afterwards, health minister Vlad Voiculescu, who emerges as one of the heroes of this story, got fired not long ago. The official reason being his handling of Covid, the real reason being that he demanded more transparency and tried to get corrupt hospital administrators fired.
 
Blinded by the Light, growing up as a British Pakistani kid in Luton who’s obsessed with Bruce Springsteen.

Good fun, singalong to the lyrics, passed some time
 
T & P said:
Yet another HBO series I hadn’t even heard about, and noticed only recently through NowTV. Nearly finished S1 and rather enjoying it.
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Leftovers near-of-S2 update, in the ‘spy’ episode in particular. WTF (but in a good way) is going on?? :D:confused:
 
Reno said:
The Thin Man is very rare in that it centres on a married couple and any film about a married couple solving crimes tends to by a homage to it. Here some romantic thrillers centring on couples:

In the 60s the success of Charade, starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn sparked a series of "Hitchcock light" romantic thrillers, pairing movie stars: Arabesque (Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren), Blindfold (Rock Hudson, Claudia Cardinale) and Mirage (Gregory Peck, Diane Baker) come to mind.

I remember enjoying Foul Play (1977) with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase, another comedic, Hitchcock inspired thriller which benefits from a screenplay by Colin Higgins (Harold and Maude, 9 to 5)

Deep Red (1975) by Dario Argento is probably the greatest giallo ever made but the director's cut at least manages to weave a screwball comedy into its plot. Daria Nicolodi's feminist journalist, who pairs up with David Hemmings to solve a murder mystery, is a throwback to Rosalind Russell and the likes. Some prefer the shorter international cut because it condensed the film down to it's horror thriller elements, but the longer Italian cut is far more interesting (and ahead of its time) in terms of sexual politics.

One of my favourite romantic thrillers ever is Read My Lips (2001) by Jacques Audiard. The gloriously dysfunctional Vincent Cassel and Emanuelle Devos are one of my all time favourite movie couples, though they pair up to commit, rather than to solve a crime.
Click to expand...
Arabesque is very good, and Greg Peck is good in it, but am I right in thinking that surely this part must have been written with Cary Grant in mind?
 
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